Killer mushrooms on the move

A report on deaths due to 'deathcap' mushrooms has led to warnings that the poisonous fungus may be increasing its range by adapting to local Australian conditions.

The report, in the latest issue of The Medical Journal of Australia, states that in a ten year period up to 1998, seven people in the Australian Capital Territory were poisoned by this mushroom. Three developed liver dysfuntion and one died. The only other Australian reports have been from Victoria. In an adult, death may ensue within 7-10 days of ingestion of a single cap.

All patients had eaten cooked mushrooms that they had picked in gardens or streets of Canberra, except a child, who had eaten part of a raw mushroom she had picked in her schoolyard. Three Laotians were poisoned at the same time when they mistook the mushroom for the similar-appearing paddy straw mushroom, common in South-East Asia.

All patients presented after one to two days with diarrhoea and, in most cases, vomiting, except the child, who vomited within two hours and was brought for medical attention immediately.

Although the mushroom is commonly found in symbiotic relationship to the roots of oak trees, there is concern among fungus and poison experts that it may develop the ability to grow in association with other trees, particularly Australian natives, and so dramatically increase its range. Associations between Eucalyptus and Amanita species have been reported in other countries and an association between the deathcap mushroom and Eucalyptus has been reported in Africa.

Immediate and vigorous gastrointestinal decontamination is currently the best treatment for poisoning.